Page 225 of Hooking Up

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Come back. Explain. I miss you. I need you. I'm pretty sure I love you.

I get up. Piss. Brush my teeth. Wash my face. Make coffee. It's good shit. French roast.

But it makes me think of her.

Everything I do as I get ready makes me think of her.

I check the time on my cell. It's early enough for this.

And there's her text.

Two words.

I'm sorry.

I don't want to believe it.

But I do.

* * *

The cold waternumbs my hands and feet.

It wakes up my tired brain.

It sends all my thoughts right back to Iris.

I paddle past the break point. Watch waves form and crash on the sand. Wait for the right set.

Turn my board. Catch a wave. Hop to my feet.

It's an amazing ride.

But I barely feel it.

I barely manage to balance.

My head isn't in the game.

It's on Iris.

The way she smiled as she propped herself up on her surfboard.

The way she looked at me like I could take all her pain away.

All that shaking in her shoulders as she tried to tell me.

The way it stopped when I promised it didn't matter.

I spend the entire morning at the beach. I catch wave after wave. I manage to clear my head enough to balance.

But I still drive home thinking of her.

I still shower thinking of her.

I still get dressed wanting to wrap my arms around her.

* * *

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